The organisers of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö have revealed the basic principles around which they will give the contest a boost. The Swedish broadcaster SVT has put the equality of all people at the core of the arrangement of the contest.

SVT has said they want to go back to the original idea of the Eurovision Song Contest from the 1950s, to bridge the gaps between countries in Europe by the means of light entertainment. The Executive Producer for the event is Martin Österdahl, who has previously led the Melodifestivalen project and studied the organisation of the Eurovision Song Contest on location on seven occasions.

According to Mr Österdahl SVT and Sweden have an expectation to renew the contest as the hosts, like they have been seen doing before. The final from Globen in 2000 set the standard for the modern Eurovision Song Contest, he says. For the first time a big arena, and modern mobile LED technology was used. A new tone was set. He also takes another example from further back in history: In 1985 the hostess Lill Lindfors dropped her skirt when returning on stage after the interval. This joke and a talking point has been often cited at the plans for 2013 as a “wow” moment the organisers are keen to repeat.

The organisers talk about the existing founding principle behind the Eurovision Song Contest, just like there is one behind the Olympic Games. The organisers want to “Unleash the full potential” as the guiding star of the organisation. So now the team is working with putting these ideas into practice. They want to embrace the the wealth of people and cultures, expressions, music and party spirit that exists in Europe. The team wants to waken a genuine interest for other cultures in the viewers and spread the message that all people are equal.

This idea is at the heart of public service television, according to Österdahl. SVT will not put forward political messages, but at the heart of their charter there is that the broadcaster must promote democracy and human rights. And democracy is also about equality of all people, he says. It is in our DNA.

So the four core values SVT is working to are:

Create real curiosity

Create wow moments

Create true relationships

Create passion that lasts

 

At the same time Martin Österdahl revealed, that there is only going to be one host for the whole show. The plans are that they will be more integrated in the whole programme than the hosts before have been. More of this will be revealed soon.

Some of the goals of the team are expressed in the following sentences:

“Create a lasting moment. A memory for life. For more people than just for us. We have hope for everyone.”

The next part of the SVT article will deal with hos the show will be moved away from making advertisement for the host country to concentrate the focus on the artists and the participating countries.

The team at SVT welcomes opinions and ideas from all at [email protected]

Source: svt.se